Nelson, Horatio--Orme, Edward
£2,520
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 5 September 2007 at 12:00 BST
Description
Orme's Graphic history of the life, exploits and death of Horatio Nelson... embellished with a series of engravings... the memoirs by Francis William Blagdon. London: printed for, published and sold by Edward Orme... and by Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, [undated, but 1806]; text watermarked 1803 and J. Whatman 1804, one plate watermarked J. Whatman 1801, folio, engraved portrait, 5 hand-coloured aquatint plates (4 double-page), 1 hand-coloured aquatint headpiece, 3 engraved head-pieces of battle scenes, 1 full-page facsimile of Nelson's handwriting, 1 small facsimile in text of Nelson's handwriting, 1 engraving in text of Ionian seal, contemporary half maroon morocco, uncut, with original printed label on upper cover, lettered in gilt on spine, rubbed, with the top portion of page 26 and 32 left blank, neat marginal repair to C3, Funeral procession by water plate with short split at centre fold
Footnote
Note: Very rare. This is the earliest, undated, edition. Abbey 327 calls for 12 plates including plate 5 "Battle of Cophenagen - uncoloured strip plate at head of page 26 of text". In the present copy the space for this etching is left blank. In the note to Abbey 328 (the dated 1806 edition of the same work with a slightly differently worded title that calls for "fifteen engravings") Abbey states that "Finally, the fact that the earliest of the two editions is undated, and that both copies carry a blank space on page 32, would appear to argue the probability that an earlier edition than either of the two above was issued. The blank space can only be explained by damage to a plate making it impossible to use". The present copy is probably therefore the very rare earlier edition, with a blank space on both page 26 and 32. Copies of both editions are rare, the undated copies even more so, and this issue especially so. The undated copies retailed for 4 guineas, the dated ones for 2 guineas. "The reduction in price [of the dated copy] and its relegation to an announcement of books already published is a strong indication that the undated copy claims priority of issue" [Abbey]
The dated edition contains 16 plates in total but Abbey notes that "plates 14,15, 16 bear no relation to the letterpress, and are, in fact, an advertisement for three large prints published separately by Orme dealing with incidents in Nelson's life, as mentioned on title-page". Only three copies of the dated edition exist in public libraries in the UK: 2 in the British Library, one in Cambridge University Library; no copies of this undated edition are recorded by KVK in European libraries. Tooley 351 gives a collation only of the 1806 dated edition.